Effects of Environmental EDCs on Oocyte Quality, Embryo Development, and the Outcome in Human IVF Process

In our daily life, people are inevitably exposed to potentially hazardous chemical contaminants. More and more evidences indicate that environmental endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) negatively affect human reproductive health and are related to many diseases including infertility. Environmental reproductive health focuses on exposure to ubiquitous and persistent EDCs. This chapter mainly discusses the effects of EDCs on the outcome of human in vitro fertilization (IVF), including oocyte quality, fertilization, embryo quality, implantation, and live births. It may be useful for doctors to advise IVF patients to avoid these adverse environmental factors as much as possible. In addition, it is important for clinical embryologists to bear in mind that adverse IVF outcome may result from such undesirable environmental exposure, and quality management and quality control in the IVF laboratory should be strengthened.